Victoria advocacy group fights secondary sewage treatment

A group of scientists and former medical health officers say they planto fighta proposal to build a$780 millionsecondary sewage treatment plantfor Greater Victoria.

The Association for Responsible and Environmentally Sustainable Sewage Treatment (ARESST) claims there is no scientificproof dumping screened and diluted sewage into fast-flowing ocean currents has any negative effects on the environment.

ARESST spokesperson Elizabeth Woodward says the decision to build the secondary treatment and a biosolids energy recovery plant is purely political.

"Were going to announce the launch of a public campaign in which Victorians can easily become involved in registering their opinion," she told CBC News.

Last week, the federal governmentannounced it would contributeabout $253 million toward the cost of building a wastewater treatment plant in Esquimalt along with a second biosolids plant at the Hartland Landfill, which will convert solid waste into energy.

Woodward says taxpayers shouldn't count on federal or provincial government promises to help fund the project.

"If we start putting shovels in the ground now or in early 2013, and the Feds still haven't passed Treasury Board and the province won't pay until the deed is done, we could really be in a big problem here."

ARESST believes most citizens don't want to see taxes increase to help fund a project whose benefits have yet to be proven.

The group is hoping politicians may be willing to reverse their decision if enough residents join the cause.